Lost x And x Found
by kotsukotsu
Summary: Takes place 10 years after Killua & Alluka leave Gon at the World Tree. Killua puts an end to Illumi's bloodlust for Alluka, but not before Illumi curses Killua to a life separated from Alluka. Now, Killua must reconnect with old friends to find a way to break the curse. Eventually KilluaxGon. First story ever!
1. Chapter 1

**As I mentioned in the summary, this is my first fic ever! Criticism and reviews are greatly appreciated so I can know if this story is good and what I can do to improve. ^.^ Thanks!**

* * *

Killua was absentmindedly sharpenening his talon-like nails against a blade when he got the call: 24th Street, The Blacksmith's Guild club, 9:00PM, Assassinate Reiji Ashitori, son of the leader of an up-and-coming drug cartel based out of Yorknew City. The reward was two million Jenny and a tip on a potential, powerful Nen exorcist. Killua's ears twitched. Maybe this Nen user could survey the ocean and find the loophole he had been unable to locate a year ago. He threw on a black hoodie that cloaked his face and quietly left the hotel room.

Despite being an underground club, The Blacksmith's Guild sported high ceilings, chandeliers cascading downward creating the soft ambiance of a medieval chamber. The music was hypnotic, and lights flashed on the moving bodies below on the dance floor. Killua surveyed it all from a crevice in the ceiling that seemed to be in place for chandelier maintenance workers. Killua's demeanor did not betray any consideration to the importance of this job. He leaned back into the cement and closed his eyes, enjoying the view of general debauchery. He felt no fear of death going into this job or any other job he had taken and that's what made him so successful. In a fourth of a second he was on the ground, in the shadows, walking casually toward Ashitori. In two more minutes, he would push his way through the crowd to Ashitori and his bodyguards. There, it would take him approximately a sixteenth of a second to move behind the guards and pierce Ashitori's heart. His mouth curled into a frightening grin, and then it would take him just another second to be on the roof, heart in hand and ready to hear whatever lead his client had on the Nen exorcist.

It wasn't necessarily that Killua wasn't paying attention to his surroundings; but, rather, he was confident in his reaction time that if anyone were to engage in hostile behavior toward him, kanmuru would kick in and he'd be out of the club before anyone could register anything different. But as Killua closed in on the last 15 seconds before reaching Ashitori's bodyguards, he felt a hand on his arm and he did not expect that to happen. He paused, becoming as still as death, still shrouded in his cloak, and turned.

And faced what looked like the confused face of a 23-year-old version of Gon Freeces.

* * *

The two young men stared at each other for approximately three full seconds. Gon's hand remained on Killua's arm tentatively yet instinctively, and his dark amber gold eyes probed the shadows underneath Killua's hoodie. It was clear that Gon had surprised even himself in his unconscious decision to reach out to this seemingly, otherwise unidentifiable man. For Killua, the three seconds dragged on slowly, and he was paralyzed, mind filled with only static buzz. In the face of potential threat, Killua embraced his typical tactical move—he grabbed the heart and ran.

Gon reacted to the scene a few seconds later and traced Killua's scent—what had brought him to touch Killua in the first place—to the roof of the club. A furious swirl of wind was just dying down, when the trail suddenly went cold—Gon scratched his head—going skyward? He pulled out his cell phone (still the same beat-up ladybug device from his childhood) and dialed the number to the Hunter Association's System Intel Service.

"Hi, yes, this is Gon Freeces checking in," he said, still sniffing the air for any clue as to Killua's whereabouts. "No, I was unsuccessful in apprehending the man. Someone got to him before me." There was a pause on the other end before the voice began speaking again. Failure to complete a job was something new to Gon's record.

"Actually, I was wondering about the man," Gon interrupted. "Ah, yes, the man who intercepted my job. Do you have any records of assassins in the area?"

The operator paused for just a second before beginning to recite a list of all the assassins in the Yorknew area.

"Sorry," Gon interrupted again. "Would you mind listing off only the most notorious assassins? Preferably the ones with the largest number of kills over the shortest period of time."

The operator paused once more and then listed off a much shorter list of names.

"Great!" Gon replied cheerfully, ignorant as always of social cues. "Do you mind emailing the files of those people to me?"

The operator sighed and had just started to ask for Gon's email address when Gon promptly hung up. An errant hair lopped down into his face, tickling the inner part of his eye, and Gon huffed the hair back into place. It was then that he noticed the wind previously whirling about the rooftop had quieted to still silence. With furrowed brows, Gon scratched his wild lob of hair and took off, jumping building after building back, nose lifted skyward.

* * *

Killua stared emptily out the window that made up the entirety of the outer wall of his penthouse suite, which overlooked the whole of Yorknew City. Slowly, he sharpened his claws against his favorite knife. He was waiting for his client to follow up with more information regarding the Nen exorcist, and his thoughts focused almost entirely on the predicting what news he would receive and how he would move forward in his single mission: to reunite with Alluka. There was, however, the smallest sliver of thought reserved to revisiting his encounter with Gon only a few hours before. Every time Killua tried to revisit the scene, however, he would experience a blinding headache, as if some part of his mind was rejecting the reappearance of Gon into his life, as if he couldn't handle to face anyone from his past. In spite of the pain, Killua couldn't help but think something was wrong about the way that his mind instinctively rejected any contemplation of the event and any thought of his past life.

Before Killua could come to any further conclusions, he heard a knock at the elevator. Killua froze—this was the second time of the night he had been surprised by something. His En covered the entire floor of the penthouse by default; and, his heightened awareness, his En had been covering the entire building and a quarter mile radius surrounding the premises. The intercom buzzed, and Killua heard an uncertain, deep yet still somewhat childlike voice, echo throughout his minimally furnished apartment.

"Killua? Is that you? Are you there? It's me, Gon."

Killua's eyes widened in shock, and he immediately became hyperaware of the fast beating of his heart and the excruciating pain in the middle of his forehead. His silence lasted for only a few minutes before Gon beeped back over the intercom.

"Killua, I can smell that you're there," Gon's voice said accusingly. "I'm not leaving until you let me in."

Still more silence. Killua tightened his hoodie defensively.

"Killua," Gon's voice started to rise. "If you don't let me in now, I will force this door open and—"

The elevator door chimed and the doors slowly opened. Killua's violent headache seemed to pause temporarily, or maybe Killua was just distracted confirming to himself what he had seen only a few hours before. His face was still shrouded under the hoodie, but Gon caught a glint of icy blue eyes for a split second. That was all the confirmation that Gon needed. He leapt from the elevator, embracing Killua in a hug that would shatter any normal human's bones. Tears poured down his face as he exclaimed his shock and happiness at their reunion.

"Killua!" Gon shrieked in delight, seeming just as much the same 14-year-old boy who had left Killua so long ago. "I _knew_ it was Killua! Well, I didn't know for sure to be honest. I was surprised I even walked up to Killua. I caught the tiniest scent from Killua in the wind. I've been training my sense of smell to be even better than before. If I hadn't known what Killua smelled like from before I don't think I would have recognized him. Killua's Zetsu is so good that that's what tipped me off. I smelled a person but no aura."

Gon continued to babble, walking Killua into his own living room, still embracing Killua in his bone-breaking hug.

"But why didn't Killua respond to any of my messages? After Ging and I met at the World Tree, he took me on one of his archaeological trips to these ruins actually close to your home, but north of it. I wasn't much use I think because at that point I still hadn't gotten my Nen back, but you wouldn't believe the birds that we saw there!"

At this point, Gon had planted Killua in a chair, and he was standing in front of Killua, gesturing wildly and reenacting some of his favorite scenes during his time with Ging and beyond. But Killua didn't hear anything of Gon's adventures. All Killua could do was stare at this person who was his best friend and wonder exactly why he couldn't feel happy to see him. Something was holding him back, but what?

It was _Gon_ , the boy with whom he had trusted his life, to whom he had given everything as a best friend and yet still was turned away. No matter how fast Killua had become, he always would be rendered immobile by the memory of Gon's blank, cold stare when he had transformed forcibly into an older version of himself to defeat Pitou back in the battle with the Chimera Ants. And now here was a young man on the path to looking much more like that man. Gon had grown like a bean sprout, only a few inches short of Killua's tall frame. But what Gon lacked in height he made up many times over in his sheer bulk, muscles still somehow straining even in Gon's loose clothing. His hair was longer, and his face scruffier, more chiseled and masculine. But his eyes were still the same warm, amber gold, and his laugh, although deeper, still retained the childlike simplicity of their past.

Killua snapped out of his reverie when he realized that Gon had stopped moving and was waving his hands in front of Killua's face.

"Killua? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Icy blue eyes locked with warm amber, but Killua's blank expression did not betray his inner turmoil of thoughts. He allowed himself to stare at Gon for five seconds before turning to sharpen his claws once more against the knife, eyes wandering over the expanse of the city outside the window once more.

Gon reached a hand out to Killua.

"Killua, what happened—"

In what seemed like a flash to Gon, Killua was leaning against the window facing away from Gon, still sharpening his claws as if he hadn't moved an inch. He was still staring out of the window, but his closeness to the window inadvertently adjusted his focus so that the hardness of his eyes met their reflection.

"Nothing," Killua's deep, muted voice rang through the apartment. He stopped sharpening his claws for a moment and turned to Gon.

"You should leave."

Gon fidgeted in place, watching Killua return to his sharpening. He walked up to Killua and grabbed both of his shoulders, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Killua!" Gon said forcibly with pain. "Don't make me leave."

Killua's eyes widened for a sixteenth of a second, Gon's words triggering a flashback to when they last met at the World Tree. Killua remembered his trembling hands, stuffing them in his pockets as he walked away with Alluka on his arm, repeating over and over again in his head, "Don't make me leave. Don't make me leave."

Gon was hugging him now, and Killua could feel the warm dampness of tears on his shoulder. His forehead was throbbing now, instinct telling him to run away but heart telling him yet again that something was irreparably wrong.

Arms hanging loosely at his side, Killua lowered his head away from Gon's embrace, looking outside once more.

"Fine," he said quietly, extracting himself from Gon's embrace and shutting the door to his bedroom, the sudden flow of water signaling a shower.

Stepping into the shower, Killua sucked in the water vapor and blew out mist to shroud the expansive, golden-lit bathroom. He felt safer in his mist, wrapped up in his thoughts, and the mist soothed the pervasive headache that had consumed him since his first encounter with Gon. Resting his head against the coolness of the shower tiling, Killua lifted a hand to the bridge between his eyes and nose and closed his eyes tightly, willing both his thoughts and headache to disappear. Numbness followed, and the headache lifted. Mind emptied, Killua reached for the soap, eyes hollow and alone.

Five minutes later (the equivalent of a thirty minute shower for Killua), he stepped lightly from the shower, brushing the last of watery residue from his hair with a flick of wind from his hand and pulled on a pair of silky pants. He opened the door to the shower, his misty cocoon streaming outward, and saw Gon facing away from him, fast asleep on his bed. Rather than confront the pains of his headache again, Killua sighed, grabbing spare pillows and sheets from his closet and opting to sleep on the sofa out in his living room.

Gon flipped over and stared at the closed door sadly. Whatever had happened to Killua, Gon deduced, it was going to take him a long time to fix. But that's what friends were for, right?


	2. Chapter 2

**A new plot point is introduced in this chapter-hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _"Nii-chan! Look at the dancing monkeys!" Alluka whispered excitedly, grabbing Killua's hand and pulling him toward the troop of monkeys chattering in the tree leaves._

 _"Look, look! Those two monkeys must be siblings like you and me," she said, pointing excitedly at the monkey that was giving the other one a piggyback ride. "Nii-chan, give me a piggyback ride too!"_

 _"Your wish is my command," Killua said with a smile, hoisting Alluka onto his shoulders. Her surprised laughter filled the forest suddenly, and the monkeys screeched in tandem, scurrying off to further trees._

 _"Follow them, Nii-Chan!" Alluka cried, still giggling. "I don't want to say goodbye yet."_

 _Jumping through the tree branches after the scrambling monkeys, light laughter trailing in their wake, the rush of wind on his cheeks, the sparkle in Alluka's eye—life could not be better, Killua thought to himself, brimming with happiness._

* * *

Then, there was nothing. Killua squeezed his eyes tightly, desperately hoping to fall back to sleep if only to see Alluka's face just once more. Not a day went by where he didn't think of her and wonder what her and Zushi were doing, if they were safe, if they were happy. He sighed, reluctantly opening his eyes and running a hand through his hair. He froze as the events of the night before came back to him. Gon's hand on his arm in the club, their untimely reunion, and—he flinched—that horrible, mind-breaking headache that had followed. Slowly, quietly, he opened the door to his bedroom and peered inside, instantly spotting that ruffle of black hair he would be sore to miss. The sun was just peeking over the horizon made of high-rise buildings, soft, pink light pressing on the tangle of limbs sprawled across the bed. A bundle of silk sheets and blankets lay in a heap at the foot of the bed despite the icy temperature at which Killua kept the place; and, at some point in the night, Gon had discarded his white button-down and black pants in favor of a pair of Killua's sweatpants. His big arms were flung wide across the bed, so trusting and open even in his sleep, and his mouth was slightly open with a peaceful expression.

Killua stood silently over Gon's sleeping frame, observing him with a cold sort of distance. He pursed his lips, frustrated for some reason that he couldn't find any sort of emotion that would connect him to this person whom he had, at one point, valued more than his own life. The headache prickled; and, before it could rear to the forefront, Killua turned and slowly walked from the room. At the doorway, his cell phone buzzed. In a twentieth of a second Killua whipped out the phone and registered the Caller Id—it was his client from the night before, the one with information on the Nen exorcist.

"Yes," Killua said impatiently.

His client laughed nervously, remarking his usual astonishment at Killua's speed. Gon groaned and stretched, rubbing his eyes. When he saw Killua, his eyes lit up.

"Good morning, Kill—"

In a flash, Killua's hand was on his mouth, and he gestured at the phone.

"Anyway, Akito-san," the client continued over the phone.

Gon's eyes widened with realization. He'd almost blew Killua's alias cover. Killua dropped his hand and walked out of the room, closing the door softly.

"You have information?" The door muted Killua's voice, but Gon pressed up against the door and picked up a few phrases from the man on the other end of the phone.

"He's a nervous man…very elusive…undoubtedly a Nen exorcist—"

Gon furrowed his brows in deep consternation, trying to piece together whom the man could be talking about. He was immediately pulled back into his eavesdropping when he heard the man mention Hisoka.

"Hisoka…yes do you know him?"

Gon burst out into the living room, unable to contain his curiosity further. Killua raised his eyebrows at Gon's keen appearance.

"Thank you for your information, Tanaka-san. I will send confirmation the usual way when I've received my compensation."

A second after he ended the call, Gon ambushed him with questions.

"Killua, who was that? Why were they talking about Hisoka? And a Nen exorcist? What's going on?"

Killua had pulled out his laptop, screen facing away from Gon, and began typing without the slightest acknowledgment of Gon.

"Hey!" Gon said indignantly, moving forward to close the laptop screen.

Gon barely saw Killua's palm move forward to stop his before the action had completed itself. So his eyes hadn't been playing tricks on him last night, Gon thought. Killua really has become fast.

Killua continued typing, otherwise oblivious to Gon's presence.

"Um," Gon started, walking forward in attempt to see what Killua was doing on the computer.

Again, in a flash, Killua had moved from the sofa to the kitchen countertop, still focused on whatever was on his computer screen.

A few seconds later, he sighed and closed the laptop.

"I'll be leaving now."

"What?!" Gon pushed a hand through his hair. "No, Killua, stop. You need to sit down and tell me what's going on."

Killua's face appeared just a few inches before Gon's. His brows were creased the tiniest bit as he stared down at Gon's fidgeting expression.

"No." That was all Killua said before he walked at a normal speed into his room, packing his clothes for what seemed like a long journey.

Gon's patience was running thin. He stormed into the room and tossed the fancy black suitcase against the wall. Turning to Killua, he pushed him against a wall, determined to get through to him this time.

"Killua," Gon said forcibly, the playfulness now absent from his voice.

Killua looked down at him, unfazed by Gon's aggressiveness.

"Tell me," Gon gritted through his teeth. "Now."

Despite being a few inches shorter than Killua, Gon easily picked up the man by his shoulders and dropped him on the bed. Gon stood above him with his arms crossed, and Killua let out a large sigh. Even he knew that there was no going around Gon when he got stubborn like this.

Even if I ran, he'd probably track me down and ruin my plan, Killua thought, running a hand through his hair letting off the tiniest bit of stress. After a few deliberate seconds of waiting, he looked up at Gon's determined face and cringed as his headache returned.

"What do you want to know?"


	3. Chapter 3

**After rearranging the story order, this is now the equivalent of a new Chapter Four! Sorry to all who my updates have inconvenienced, but I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"What do you want to know?" Killua asked, hands folded in an enterprisingly calculated manner.

He looked somewhere past Gon's shoulder with a consternated expression. His head was pounding

Gon bit his lip, complaint after complaint racing through his head. He didn't know where to start, so he blurted exactly what he was thinking that moment, "Why didn't Killua call at all?"

"Eh?" Killua tilted his head. Clearly, this wasn't the first question he thought Gon would ask.

"That is, well," Gon stumbled, trying to organize his thoughts. "This is the first time I've even heard Killua were alive for the past nine and a half years. I called Killua maybe hundreds of times—texted him at least in the hundreds as well—and tried contacting everyone who might know Killua's whereabouts. But it was no good. It was like Killua had disappeared from this world."

A small smile dawned on Killua's face when he saw Gon gesturing with the same old ladybug messenger he'd bought with Killua all those years ago.

"I'm sorry," Killua said solemnly. "It couldn't be helped. That is," Killua paused before explaining. "My brother, Illumi, he threatened Alluka shortly into our adventure after we left you at the World Tree. At that point, I cut all contact with the world and moved Alluka to an unclaimed island south of the NGL. I made a pact with Nanika that, in exchange for my promise to train and operate only for Alluka's benefit and safety, she would shroud the island with her En so that no one unrecognizable could find it."

Killua smiled bitterly to himself, knowing full well how his actions had led him to where he was today.

"I trained hard for seven years," Killua continued. "Every day, I woke up and ran 100 miles. The first few weeks were hard; but, little by little, I cut my time down from basically a whole day to an hour. As I improved and opened up some additional time in the day, I worked on my lightning Nen capabilities."

Killua played with a zap of lightning between his hands, the shocks dancing in a way that mesmerized Gon.

"Over time, I added 1,000 Nen punches a day to create tangible thunder, modified Tsezguerra's jumping technique to focus on manipulating wind, used those skills to call down and shape rain from the sky, and then build up enough tolerance to master lightning."

Killua raised his hands in a sort of cool-guy "it-can't-be-helped" way, "So then, I guess I mastered two new Nen skills: Zeus's Storm and Speed of Light."

Gon ooh'd and awe'd, partly in earnest admiration of Killua's work, but partly to stroke Killua's ego. Even in his darkest moments, Gon thought exasperatedly, Killua still had his flair for showing off.

"So that's how you can move so fast now," Gon said mostly to himself, clearing the empty plates and moving to the dish washer.

Killua nodded smugly, tossing himself onto the sofa.

"Then, Zushi appeared on the island," Killua said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Eh?!" Gon said, clanking two plates together harshly.

"Careful! Those are expensive," Killua complained, jumping at the sound.

"Yes, yes," Gon placated, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Gon smiled inwardly, at least Killua hadn't changed completely

"He was the sole survivor of a shipwreck that had been on route to an expedition to the Dark Continent. After Nanika healed him up, Zushi and I trained together for the next couple of years. It was really sad leaving both of them behind after so many years of living on the island. I almost didn't want to leave to disturb the peace we had."

Killua absentmindedly plucked a fraying thread from the sofa.

"But it had to be done. I wouldn't rest until I knew that Illumi no longer posed a threat to Alluka. The day I left was one of the saddest days of my life."

Killua paused, remembering Alluka's tears and his firm handshake with Zushi.

 _"Take care of her, please."_

 _"Of course."_

"If I had known that would be the last time I'd see her…" Killua trailed off, face dipping into the shadow of the sun that now hovered just above the high-rise buildings. The day had flown by sooner than he'd thought, even considering the fact that Daylight Savings Time had pulled the sunset up to a ridiculously early part of the day

"Don't be sad, Killua!" Gon's voice zapped through Killua's musings, bringing him back to reality. Gon raised an upturned thumb at him.

"We'll definitely get back to her."

Killua couldn't help the small smile that flitted across his face, and Gon smiled in response. He was getting used to Killua's enhanced speed.

His smile drifted away

"Eventually, I found a lead on Illumi and confronted him," Killua said softly. "To be specific, I punched a whole through the hot air balloon he was on and dragged him out into the sky. Right before he died, he used some sort of evil Nen."

Killua paused thoughtfully, still unsure of exactly what happened.

"Suddenly, he seemed different. Darker. Darker than usual," Killua corrected. "He knew about Zushi even though I hadn't even mentioned it before, and—"

Killua looked down, his body now a perfect silhouette in the fading sun.

"As he was falling from the sky, he cursed me to a life in which neither Alluka nor Zushi remembered me," Killua said softly. "He said one more thing, but it was so cryptic and I don't even know if I heard him correctly."

"What did he say?" Gon asked.

Killua looked up and stared him straight in the eye for the second time that day.

"He said, 'And now, you won't find true happiness, either.'"

They looked down together in silence as the final rays of the sun died out.

"I promise to find a way to make you happy again, Killua." Gon's voice came out of the darkness. "And we'll get Alluka back for sure."

Killua smiled into the darkness, his headache now slightly subdued in the darkness.

Suddenly, he felt a hand pat his head carefully. He froze, not having registered Gon's presence once more.

"Sorry, we've only talked about me," Killua said nervously, moving outside of Gon's range. "How have you been?"

"It's okay," Gon replied. "How about you rest for now, and we can talk when you wake?"

Killua protested lightly, but in the darkness he had already felt sleep sneaking up on him. Within seconds, he was out

Gon sighed ruefully and gathered the heap that was Killua, moving him to the bedroom.

He looked down at Killua's sleeping form, his jawline illuminated by moonlight. Killua really had become a beautiful man, Gon thought, not registering how such an observation if spoken might come across strangely. Nine and a half years had passed since Killua had said his goodbyes to Gon at the World Tree, and he was no longer the same person. Sure, he was still lanky, disheveled, pale-skinned, and with silvery thin, long hair that spiked a thousand different ways when electricity flowed through his veins. But now solid, lean muscle betrayed his lankiness, his face and body that of a man, and his eyes had turned to the brightest, iciest blue possible, yet somehow those eyes were still so dark and haunting, clouded with the purple of death.

Gon frowned worriedly, tiptoeing out of the room. He made sure to shut the door quietly before taking his turn on the sofa for the night.


	4. Chapter 4

He sat at the dinner table silently, hands in his lap looking downward to avoid the headache that would come on if he looked at or talked to Gon. Seeming to read Killua's mind, Gon didn't say anything, humming quietly as he placed Killua's plate on the table and pushed it toward Killua.

"Itadakimasu," Killua said in a loud, formal way, clapping his hands together before digging in.

"So," Gon said finally, breaking the silence. "I gave Wing-san a call earlier today, and he was really relieved to hear that Zushi is okay."

Killua's bed hair immediately sparked into white-blue spikes. Despite the headache he knew it would bring, Killua looked Gon in the eye and whispered murderously, "What did you do?"

"Ah, I didn't say much!" Gon said, waving his hands defensively. "I used a pay phone out in the city so it couldn't be traced, and I just told him to meet us at the clock tower to talk more about the situation."

Killua's hair relaxed, and he began jabbing his pancakes. Gon let out a sigh of relief.

"You know," Killua said, interrupting Gon's moment of peace. "You don't _have_ to help me. I told you that I want to do this on my own. It's my fault, and I need to fix it."

"But it's not Killua's fault!" Gon protested. "If it's anyone's fault, then blame Illumi! He's the one who tore you and Alluka apart in the first place. And us—"

Gon stopped mid-sentence, looking pale.

"What?"

"Um, what I meant to say is, hehe, ah…" Gon stuttered.

Killua put down his utensils. "Gon," he started.

"He threatened to hurt Killua if I didn't tell Killua to leave at the World Tree!" Gon blurted, eyes shut tightly, hands bending the utensils he was holding. "He said, he said…"

Killua stared at him, unable to process what Gon had just said.

"He said he would kill you and Alluka if I asked you to stay with me," Gon finished.

Killua stared at Gon, unable to tear his eyes from the man but unable to get up or do anything about it. The headache was now excruciating, but Killua knew he had to do something. He pushed through the headache and reached to embrace him but once he tried to get close blinding white light shot through his head and he fell backward.

"Killua….?"

"I'm sorry," Killua gritted out, scrambling back into his room and shutting the door.

He put a hand to his throbbing head. What was wrong with him? The headache was blinding to the point that he couldn't see anymore. He fell forward in the room, hands reaching forward instinctively like a blind man for the table next to his bed. Shaking hands knocked over most of the objects on the desk before he finally found it—the talisman Alluka had given him right before he left the island to find Illumi. Instantly, his body became cool and calm. He pressed the talisman to his forehead and suddenly the headache subsided significantly, reducing to a light buzz. In fact, Killua thought, everything seemed clearly and cheerier than it had for the whole past year. He looked in his mirror at the reflective talisman still pressed against his forehead.

"Killua?" Gon tapped at the door. "Is everything all right? I'm coming in."

He opened the door, and Gon fell forward unexpectedly into an embrace.

"Killua, I'm sorry," Gon said looking down, balling his hands into fists.

"I wanted Killua to meet Ging. But I was so scared... He told me how he would hurt you and—" Gon shook his head. "I couldn't take it anymore! I tried to find Killua a few months later, but Killua was gone!"

It seemed that all this time Killua thought he had been abandoned really he was the one doing the abandoning. He put a hand on Gon's head and ruffled his hair a bit.

He chucked, and Gon looked up indignantly, "Hey! Be serious!"

"I am," Killua responded. "I'm just happy you told me that."

Gon's protests died in his mouth as he saw Killua smile genuinely for the first time since they reunited. Something had changed.

The peaceful silence was broken by the sound of Gon's ringtone.

"Ah!" Gon said, jumping out of the embrace they still somehow were in, grabbing his phone. "It's Wing-san! Time to meet him for step one of finding Alluka."

"Let him know I'm coming to get him," Killua said, and he zipped out of the room the second Gon pressed the send button.

A few seconds later, a disheveled Wing-san and Killua were back in the apartment.

"What—" Wing-san spluttered, trying to catch his balance. "Killua! You can't just carry people around without asking!"

"Gon warned you I was coming," Killua said, shrugging.

Wing-san muttered disgruntledly while Gon laughed.

"Tell me about Zushi," Wing-san said seriously, sitting at the dinner table.

* * *

"I see," Wing-san said after he'd been caught up on their current predicament. "Well, I happen to know where Hisoka is."

Killua and Gon leaned forward.

"He's at Heavens Arena. Chrollo has challenged him for his position as floor master."

"Eh?!" Killua and Gon reacted together.

"So Chrollo must have had his Nen powers restored by the same Nen exorcist we're looking for," Killua said.

"This Nen exorcist must be powerful to have cancelled Kurapika's curse," Gon said thoughtfully.

Killua rested his head on his hands, thinking contemplatively. "We'll need to find a way to disguise ourselves going into Heavens Arena. New identities and everything, otherwise my family will definitely come and kill us all."

"They still haven't forgiven me for killing Illumi," he explained.

"But doesn't Heavens Arena have a really strong security system?" Gon asked.

"Yeah, that's where I'm stuck now," Killua said.

"I may have a solution," Wing-san said slowly. "It's not a guarantee, but someone does owe me a favor. We'll have to wait until night to go, so let's plot out the plan for when we get through security at Heavens Arena."

Gon and Killua exchanged a look but decided not to press Wing-san until later about the mysterious character.

* * *

At 9:17PM sharp, Wing-san led the two young men into the underground district of Yorknew, a place where black markets and clubs profited from the illicit activities of foreigners passing through. After exchanging cryptic phrases with a bartender at one of the quieter venues, they slipped into a hidden elevator, which took them even deeper underground. As they descended what seemed to be multiple floors, Killua's ears prickled at what sounded like a lulling sort of music. His body began to react to the sound, a chill running down his spine and the hairs on his arms rising. Something seemed off; but, before he could place a finger on it, the elevator doors opened, and they were greeted with one of the most elaborate underground clubs Killua had ever seen (and he'd seen his fair share). The whole room was made of a translucent material like a gooey glass that dripped everywhere, forming sofas and tables, and bar tables, and the massive stage that coated the side of the room farthest from where they walked in.

But Killua saw none of this because he could only focus on the woman dancing on stage.

She was wearing thick, brilliantly colored rags pinned with sequins and beads that suggested a makeshift dress. The colors trailed her graceful, lithe movement, and yet it seemed like every move she made had been slowed down by time, deliberate and trailing with the same sort of effect as Killua's assassination technique that made many shadowy versions of his appearance. A thin veil covered most of her thin face, and all Killua could really see around her black, long hair was her deep amber gold eyes matted in dark kohl liner.

He was mesmerized, maybe even hypnotized, as he walked forward to this woman who now seemed to be the center of his universe.

"What's wrong with Killua?" Gon asked Wing-san as they observed his zombie-like persona basically crawling toward the stage.

"He's okay," Wing-san said, smiling. "It seems my acquaintance has taken a liking to him. Let him enjoy the performance, and I'll pull him out of his stupor at the end. We can't talk to her until the show is over, anyway."

"Her?" Gon asked.

Wing-san pointed to the ragged woman on stage. "She's the one who can help us."

* * *

 **The search for Alluka finally begins!**


	5. Chapter 5

_9:27:54…9:29:14…9:32:33…_ In his childhood assassin training, Killua developed an unconscious knack for keeping tracking of the time constantly for data purposes in the case he might be kidnapped. But now, swathed in the cushy, transparent sofas of this place, Killua struggled to produce even words, let alone manage minutes. The hypnotic sensation that had pulled him toward this mystery woman and pushed him gently into the sofa demanded that his full attention keep to the dancing woman. Whenever he attempted to shift his eyes elsewhere, a whirling, throbbing sensation would rattle the insides of his head and he'd be forced to return focus to the woman. In any other situation, this hypnosis would have alerted Killua's senses immediately and he would be back in his apartment at this point, but there was no bloodlust, no intent to kill, in this hypnosis, and so kanmuru did not kick into effect. Somewhere, buried deep down in his mind, his instinct was thrashing, desperately trying to get in touch with his physical body to leave, but those feelings were quashed down and overwhelmed by the sublime pleasure of soothing hypnosis massaging his body and mind. Before he knew what was happening, the music was dying down and the woman was walking back stage and he was walking to the exit to back stage, as well. The guards, seeing the expression on his face, knew that he was welcome, and they did not block his slow ascent forward through the curtains. In his haze, Killua barely heard Wing-san speaking quietly to the guards behind him. Gon's hand brushed faintly against his shirt before Wing-san pulled him back with a telling face as Killua moved on, leaving them behind.

After an undetermined lag of time, Killua felt the hypnotic presence gather and push him lightly back onto a new sofa, where he collapsed in a heap. Everything was still so dizzy and uncertain since he lost visual track of the dancing woman, and the paintings and lights in the room seemed to swirl in endless circles until suddenly she was there, hovering over him with her bright, deep, amber gold eyes. Like a lioness, her eyes honed in onto Killua, silently claiming him as her prey, as she descended onto him, her curled dark hair and rags alike enveloping him in a honeyed, flower scent, beads tinkling as she pressed against him. Her mouth opened just the tiniest bit, and Killua's eyes were locked there, his body otherwise paralyzed and tense yet relaxed at the same time. The woman leaned closer, very discreetly licked her lips, and a pang of desire shuddered through Killua not on his own accord. Right as Killua's focus began to blur as the woman got closer, even closer, a loud noise suddenly cut her off, and Alluka's talisman (now firmly placed on his head by Wing-san's ingenuity with a few scraps of cloth) seared clarity into his mind, giving Killua just the tiniest moment to jump up and find solace, as he usually did, in the corner of the room on the ceiling, pressed up by his legs and arms. Gon was breathing heavily, the two guards from before dropping at his feet now unconscious and the door crushed. His expression made it clear that he'd seen what situation Killua had been in only seconds before.

"You!" Gon said accusingly, pointing his finger at the woman righteously. "You have no right to touch Killua!"

The woman's shocked expression had already relaxed into a self-satisfied smirk and she was casually fixing her rags to be more appropriately placed.

"Oh?" the woman drawled, her mature voice just as slippery and honeyed as the powers she'd just used on Killua. "And you do?"

"What?!" Gon said defensively, turning pink. "No, that's not what I meant. Just that you—"

"That's enough, Gon," Wing-san said, making his presence more known. "I apologize, Hikaru—"

"I'm called Hayami here, Wing-san," the woman said, shaking her finger at him. "You should know better than that. And to address me by my first name," she sighed, turning to her desk and going through mail as if she hadn't just been about to seduce Killua and nothing inappropriate had happened.

"Again, my apologies," Wing-san smiled, bowing slightly. "I wonder if we might talk somewhere more private."

"This room is soundproof by my own powers," Hikaru said, waving her hand nonchalantly. "You can say whatever it is you'd like."

"Very well," Wing-san said. "We require your services in Nen disguise."

"Oh?" Hikaru said, sealing a letter with her tongue.

"Yes," Wing-san said serenely, not to betray any impatience with Hikaru's attitude. "And luckily it so happens that this young man is who requires that service." He pointed at Killua.

Hikaru smiled in a predatorily sort of way. "Oh, Wing-san, you're so clever. Having him show up at the club and knowing I would mark him anyway to make me cave to your demands, tut tut."

Wing-san smiled neutrally.

"I would do nothing of the sort, Hayami-sensei," he said, lilting the word "sensei" to be a bit playful. "As I remember, you might have told me that I could call on you for your services after I helped you back before."

"Yes, yes," Hikaru said in a bored manner, waving him off. She sat in the chair across from the sofa and looked up at Killua.

"You can come down now," she said with a little smirk, extending a beckoning finger.

Reluctantly, Killua jumped down and walked slowly to the sofa.

"Ah, there's no need in hiding your speed from me now," Hikaru said, waving him off with a catlike smile. "Although I am interested to learn what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

Killua said nothing, and Gon immediately took the seat next to Killua on the sofa.

"My name is Gon," he said loudly, putting out a hand for her to shake. "Gon Freeces."

"Mmm, _the_ Gon Freeces, is it?" Hikaru said, extending her own dainty hand. "You're a bit shorter than I thought you'd be, though? And definitely not my type."

Gon's hand tightened in hers a bit with the last jab, but he forced a smile on his face. "And you're not as pretty as we were led to think."

They exchanged their forced smiles and electricity jabbing auras until Wing-san took control of the situation again.

"Now, now," Wing-san said. "Please let me introduce Hikamori Hikaru, the daughter of an old colleague of mine. She specializes in disguise Nen."

"How exactly does it work?" Killua said, speaking up for the first time.

Hikaru turned her catlike eyes on to Killua once more. "I'm glad you asked," she simpered. "As Wing-san said, my Nen specializes in disguises, making me a Specialist of sorts. I can't physically change my own appearance, but I can change your perception of my appearance so that I look, sound, and feel like the persona I've created. In fact, I'm using it right now."

She smiled and leaned back.

Wing-san cleared his throat, "It's rumored that no one has seen Hayami-sensei's true appearance since the day her father died and she was orphaned. At this point, I'm sure she's grown up and changed her true appearance around enough that even I wouldn't recognize her solely by appearance."

Wing-san laughed and rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed. "But I'll always recognize your mind, Hikaru-chan," Wing-san said fondly, patting her head.

"I said not to call me that, Wing-san!" Hikaru yelled, but her pink face betrayed any antagonism found in her words.

"How does your ability to change your appearance help Killua, though?" Gon said a little sarcastically, still not over the exchange he had seen earlier.

Hikaru smirked, the blush quickly gone from her face. "I can pass my disguise powers onto another person, but _only_ one other person at a time. And that person must sign a contract in Nen and pay a price. The conditions are simple. One: The person must be marked by me—that one's already been done to you, babe," she winked at Killua. "Once you have given your full and voluntary consent, the mark will be valid, and then two: you can use my disguise powers at your will to create any number of disguises for yourself until the mark is removed."

"And the price to pay?" Killua asked.

She smiled, leaning forward. "Once accepted, the mark will remain on you for one month. Whether you want more or less time cannot be helped. Every day, every hour, every minute of the time the mark is on you, my influence over your mind will grow. First, it's just little suggestions—get the pork dish instead of the sushi rolls. But, by the end of the month, I can order you to kill and you'll do it." Her eyes darkened to molten brown amber. "Of course, once the month is up, all of my power over you disappears immediately and you can go back to your normal life."

Before Gon could fully voice his protests, Killua cut in, "Done. Under two conditions of my own."

"Oh?" Hikaru said. "Are you really in a position to make your own conditions?"

"I'm one of the most elite assassins in the world who will be completely under your power. That gives me the right to make two small conditions," Killua shot back.

Hikaru shrugged but did not protest further.

"One, you will not order me to harm any of my friends or loved ones in any way, shape, or form. Two, you will not order me to carry out any actions that could result in my own death or inability to go about my normal life under the conditions that I live at present."

"Oh my, what exactly do you think I'll order you to do?" Hikaru laughed, waving a fan at him. "Of course, I agree to these conditions."

Now, Killua extended his hand to shake with her, still as serious as he was from the very beginning. "Good. I give my consent. Let's get to work on my disguises."

* * *

"Saito Tatsuo, age 23, from the NGL, you are registered for a Floor 1 Battle!" the woman behind the counter at Heavens Arena confirmed, handing him his registration tickets.

Hikaru, posing as a celebrity groupie, clapped excitedly and hung on his arm. "Honey, I can't wait!"

Gon clenched his fist, still in line with Wing-san, watching the two. Everything had moved so quickly that he hadn't had a chance to talk to Killua by themselves yet, especially with Hikaru hanging all over him. He and Wing-san had come to Heavens Arena under the pretext of having heard about Hisoka's epic victory over Chrollo so that Gon could once again challenge Hisoka.

"All good!" the woman behind the counter said to him, cutting off his thoughts. "Freeces-san, you are cleared to start at the 150-level."

As was the case last time, both Gon and Killua cleared through their levels during the smaller part of the afternoon and were up to the 200-level floor registration in no time. Killua had just turned the corner to the 200-level registration counter when he saw it—Hisoka pressed against Gon in a shadowy corner of the hallway.

"Yo!" Killua yelled, breaking whatever charm Hisoka had played to paralyze Gon in the corner. Hisoka turned, licking his lips.

"And who might you be?" Hisoka said, eyes dancing.

"Uh…" Killua paused. He forgot that Hisoka wouldn't recognize him in his disguise and he couldn't exactly explain himself with other contestants walking around the hallway.

On an impulse to distract Hisoka, Gon pulled Hisoka's face back around to his own and planted a kiss on his lips.

"Congratulations on your victory over Chrollo, Hisoka!" Gon said hurriedly, now tall enough to pat Hisoka's slick hair. The ploy wouldn't have worked on anyone else, naturally, except Hisoka.

"Oh, Gon!" Hisoka said gleefully, and Killua shuffled away before Hisoka could remember he was there.

Killua shuddered, silently begging Gon's forgiveness for his momentary idiocy. He turned the corner once more, walking up to the counter, but he couldn't shake the weird feeling he felt when he saw Gon kiss Hisoka. When signing up for his 200-level match, he noticed that Hisoka and Gon were slotted for that evening, along with one other 200-level floor contestant. In a fleeting moment of pettiness, Killua signed up for the same day. _Techincally, there's a 66% chance Gon will be paired with either me or this other contestant instead of Hisoka, but if I just—_ He used his speed to add a few commands into the woman's database— _then now_ I'll _be facing Hisoka._ He smiled petulantly. _Sorry Hisoka_ , he said, walking by the same spot where Hisoka and Gon had been a few moments ago.

* * *

"And now, coming off of his big victory against Chrollo defending his position as Floor Master, it's Morouuuuuuuu Hisoooookaaaaaaa!" the announcer screamed into the microphone as thousands cheered.

Hisoka stepped onto the stage, waving at the crowd as if he were the Queen of England.

"Apparently that fight was vicious," Wing-san said to Gon in the stands. "Most of the audience died in the process."

"Hmm," Gon said noncommittally, munching on his snacks. He had really wanted to have a rematch against Hisoka, especially considering his last defeat when they were in Heavens Arena. _It can't be helped, I guess_ , Gon thought.

"Hisoka's battle partner will be none other than Saito Tatsuo, the newcomer who beat the first 200 levels in less than three hours just yesterday afternoon! Will he be any match for Hisoka?"

Killua walked onto the stage to noticeably less applause, and he smirked. If they knew his real name, they'd be screaming right about now.

Hisoka raised an eyebrow at the young man, recognizing him from the day before. By physical appearance alone, Killua's hair was a stony black, and he wore a dark blue beanie to cover its telltale spiky ends. His eyes were still blue, but now they were of a dark and rich oceanic blue much unlike the light, almost white icy blue with which he had come to associated. His skin was not tanned, but he was certainly a shade darker than his usual paleness; and, although Killua was always on the leaner side, he now seemed even smaller and leaner than usual, a trick in his disguise to make him look even less intimidating.

Killua had trained his skill sets before coming to Heavens Arena so that his speed would look like invisibility to the audience and his lightening and thunder strikes would be so fast that they looked like mere punches. The trick was that the lightning and thunder needed to be fast enough that not even the visual and audio recordings could pick them up when slowed down to the slowest speed available so that Hisoka could feel the powers (and discover his true identity) but no one else could see or hear them.

The fight began, and Killua immediately disappeared, eliciting gasps from the audience. He crouched in the tidy corners of the stadium ceiling. His Zetsu was impeccable—there was absolutely no way that the audience would ever be able to tell that he was using the ceiling as a means to hide his speed and make it appear to be invisibility by jumping down from place to place as if he had a weakness that made it necessary for his invisibility to "wear out" like the Chimera Ant Meleoron. But he knew that Hisoka would eventually catch on to these antics if he repeated them enough times, and either the camera would pick up on his silent realization or he would speak it out loud. He'd have to end this battle before it got to that point, or at least get across to Hisoka who he was and that Hisoka shouldn't say anything or make a big point of it. He sighed silently, bringing a hand to his forehead. If only he'd just let Gon fight Hisoka and then they could have had a little conversation about it privately in the walkway tunnel after the fight where there were no cameras. He smiled, but where's the challenge in that?

Approximately eight seconds had passed since Killua had disappeared from the stage, and now he was ready to act. His objective was simple: get ten hits on Hisoka and win by KO. He'd have to make sure that Hisoka didn't use his Bungee Gum on him, especially if he were to be en route back to the ceiling, because that would give away his speed. So he'd have to use Gyo the entire battle. He leaped down onto the corner of the stadium benches and punched off of it loudly, signaling to the audience of his presence and slowed his presence right in front of Hisoka, delivering a thunder punch so quickly that the reverb was silenced. He allowed a trickle of lightning to snap by Hisoka while they were close in between them so that it was masked from any camera before leaping back and making a show of breathing heavily to imply he had skills of the sort like Meleoron.

Hisoka jumped back, eyes wide and betraying the immediate shock he felt as the announcer screamed over the intercom. There was something in this boy's attack that reminded him of someone. His mind began racing as he dodged the boy's purposefully slower attacks, making leaps trying to make the connection. When he looked into the boy's eyes, he saw bloodlust, there was no doubt, but this bloodlust seemed checked in a way, forced or focused on something that Hisoka was clearly missing. And then there was that little shock of electricity… _Too small for any of the audience, or even cameras, to pick up…_ Hisoka thought to himself. Suddenly, the boy's arm appeared out of nowhere, punching Hisoka square in the face. Hisoka sat on the ground for a few moments, mind racing. _Who is this boy?_

"That's another three points to Saito-kun!" the referee shouted. "Only six more points to go!"

"What's wrong, creepy man? Have you lost your edge?" Killua taunted, jumping in place still clearly warming up.

Hisoka stiffened. Although the voice was unfamiliar, the boy's words were still somehow so familiar. Looking closer, he realized that the boy was using Gyo. _That's unprovoked_ , Hisoka thought. _I haven't said anything with Bungee Gum to prompt him to start using Gyo, unless—_ Hisoka froze completely. _He already knows?_

He just barely dodged another one of the young boy's attacks. He looked over his shoulder at the boy who had his waiting, prodding expression. _Could it be…?_

Killua jumped back up to the ceiling, playing his disappearing act for the second time. Peering down he saw Hisoka moving carefully in circles, trying to find him in the crowd. He fell directly down onto Hisoka, pummeling him into the ground before leaping right back up to the ceiling, as if he'd kicked him down while "invisible."

"And that's nine points for Saito!" the announcer shouted, unable to even process what was happening.

Hisoka grimaced into the stone floor of the stage as the audience boo'd and jeered. The whole of the battle hadn't lasted more than a few minutes and he was already in the yellow zone. He'd have to stop thinking about this mysterious connection and fight for his position as Floor Master. And what would he do without a whole floor dedicated to his debauchery? Instantly, he covered himself in a light but firm Bungee Gum. This defensive measure would take a lot of strength from him, but it seemed like this spider web approach would be the only way to catch his prey before it scampered away.

Killua scratched his head, observing Hisoka's Bungee Gum-coated body. He walked measuredly to Hisoka, no bloodlust apparent now. Hisoka paused, crouched and calculating. Killua walked right up to Hisoka and of all things _hugged_ him. Holding him tightly, Killua whispered so quietly that no one in the stadium or the cameras could pick it up: "Meet us later, 44." Then he released invisible electric waves to Hisoka's chest just enough to have him fly from his hands and smash into the wall.

As Hisoka was flung backward and the announcer positively screamed, he made the final connection: _Killua?_

The audience exploded in screams. The battle had only lasted a total of less than seven minutes and Hisoka was soundly defeated. He rose, managing to slick his hair back in a cool way despite just having been put through the ringer, and walked off stage. He'd take the floor back in a few days when he had time to think, but for now he had to figure out exactly why Killua was at Heavens Arena under disguise after being absent for so many years. Right when he dipped into the tunnel leading out of the battle arena, he was suddenly whisked up and dropped in a luxury suite, where he met with the faces of many familiar people.

* * *

 **Nod to the *spoiler!* current battle going on between Hisoka and Chrollo in the manga and my hope that Hisoka will pull through victorious if not in this battle then that one.**


	6. Chapter 6

**More character development and a little more progress on the plot. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The announcer's screaming voice and audience cheers echoed in Hisoka's ears, and thoughts were racing through his head. In spite of feeling extremely overwhelmed, Hisoka put on his usual cool face and twirled a card in his fingers while facing Killua and company.

"Congratulations on your victory, _Killua_ ," Hisoka said, emphasizing the fact he had figured Killua out. "Although I wouldn't call it so much a victory when I was preoccupied the whole time trying to fit the puzzle pieces together."

Killua smirked and dropped his disguise.

"We can do a rematch after this is over and done."

"And what exactly is it that needs to be done?" Hisoka drawled. "Gon-kun?"

"Um," Gon said, turning red remembering their last interaction. "For you, we just have a question. A decade ago, you allegedly found a Nen exorcist who helped Chrollo get his Nen powers back. We need to find that person."

"Hmmm, but why?"

Killua cut in, "We can't tell you."

Hisoka smiled at him, but they could all tell that his smile was laced with a serious poison. "Then I guess I can't tell you who or where that person is."

"How do we know you aren't bluffing that you even know where 'this person' is?" Killua accused. "If you haven't noticed, this is a pretty serious situation—"

"Killua, let's try to be calm about this," Gon reassured him.

"Yes, Gon-kun, please calm down your little friend," Hisoka purred.

Killua bristled at the way Hisoka said Gon's name and started to step forward, but Hikaru put a hand on his arm to calm him down, which inadvertently made Gon twitch.

Hisoka observed all of this with his same, cool smile. Hikaru turned to him, smiling the same cool smile.

"I don't think we've had the pleasure to meet yet. My name is Tsumegori Michiko. Nice to meet you," Hikaru said in a foreign accent, bowing politely.

Killua raised an eyebrow at Hikaru's impressive, impromptu acting skills.

" The pleasure is all mine, Miss Tsumegori," Hisoka simpered, taking her hand. He drew her in closer. "Now why would you be associated with someone like this little twerp?"

"I'm 6'2 and 24 years old, you creepy old man!" Killua complained.

Hikaru let out a little laugh. "Ah, I sensed this one's power, and now I just want to trail along for the fun. Can you blame a girl? Especially with his good looks…"

Hisoka's smile widened. "No, I wouldn't do that…It seems like you and I are more alike than I would have thought."

Hikaru's smile widened likewise. "Well I'm glad I'm not the only one in this boat who feels that way. Wouldn't you mind getting in our boat and tagging along on this journey even if you don't know the full story? Heck, even I don't know the full story, but who cares when you have these beautiful little enigmas at your disposable to unlock." Hikaru lifted a lock of Killua's hair and inhaled before turning back to Hisoka. "What do you say?"

Killua was red in the face at Hikaru's sudden brazen nature. _How could this girl change characters so many times so quickly?_

"I know when I'm being manipulated, and yet I can't bring myself to care in this situation," Hisoka said, stretching. "I'll go along with your charade for now until something better comes up."

He plopped onto the couch with Gon. "You still have so much more to improve, Gon-kun," he crooned.

Wing-san jumped in to diffuse the clearly escalating situation.

"The nen exorcist?" Wing-san said politely, prompting Hisoka.

"Ah, yes," Hisoka said, reluctantly extracting himself from Gon's hair. "The man with whom I interacted was named Abengane. He's a Conjurer, and his Hatsu allows him to remove the effects of Nen from himself and others under certain conditions."

Gon jumped up in excitement. "We know him! He was the one who helped us figure out how to deal with Genthru the Bomber. I'm sure he would be willing to help us in return for our help."

"But how to find him? And what conditions?" Killua followed up thoughtfully.

"The last place I saw him was when he removed Kurapika's curse from Chrollo. I wasn't able to observe his actual technique so I'm not sure how exactly he did it or what the conditions are. We'd do our best to find him by sniffing him out…" Hisoka trailed off.

"But how can we sniff him out?" Gon thought aloud.

Everyone paused, racking their brains for an answer.

"Let's think on it tonight and then see what we can do moving forward," Wing-san suggested. "We've all had a long day, and now this whole floor is ours, thanks to Killua!"

Hikaru immediately grabbed Killua's arm. "I claim a room with Killua!"

"Baaaaa-ka, why would I want to do that?" Killua said loudly, shaking his arm from Hikaru's clutch and crossing his arms behind his head walking away. "I'll have a room to myself as that's the least I can ask for after winning this floor."

She whined and whined until Killua finally caved and conceded that she could come hang out for a little bit before going to her own room. She cheered and as they walked out Gon couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Were Hikaru's powers of influence already starting to take over Killua, or did Killua genuinely enjoy her presence?

Hisoka watched Gon watch Killua, observing quietly.

"Gon-kun," Hisoka said finally, dragging Gon out of his thoughts. "Shall we share a room, as well?"

It took a few seconds for Gon to register Hisoka's suggestion before he jumped up, red in the face again. "Ah, no thank you! That is, I'm sure we both need sleep and I will be fine by myself!"

"Just for a little bit, though," Hisoka said persuasively. "We haven't caught up in _ages_."

"Well," Gon said cautiously. "If it's only just to catch up for a little bit, then okay…"

Wing-san watched Hisoka and Gon leave next and once the door shut he put a hand to his forehead. This was going to be a long and bumpy journey, all right. _But worth it_ , he thought, _for Zushi_.

* * *

 _~~ Meanwhile with Killua and Hikaru ~~_

Once the door shut, Hikaru raced ahead of Killua, whooping into the master suite.

"Ehhh," Hikaru complained. "This room looks exactly like your apartment. Why don't you spruce it up a bit?"

Killua shut the door behind her, dropping his disguise once more. "I added a weapons simulation training room and an office for investigative research and a couple of other things to improve the aesthetic. Isn't that enough?"

"But like, something fun?" Hikaru pressed.

"Like what?"

"Mm, how about a big in-built onsen? Or maybe a karaoke room!"

"How about no?"

Hikaru scoffed. "Ugh, fine! Go take a shower anyway. You stink."

Killua was already walking into the bathroom so he just threw up a hand acknowledging her comment before shutting the door. Within minutes, the golden tiles warmed and the room was enveloped in his Nen steam that coaxed and pushed out the muscles from his fight with Hisoka. If Hisoka knew exactly how his powers worked, he certainly be a formidable opponent. He felt a twinge of annoyance, still irritated with the way Hisoka hung all over Gon. _Gon_ , Killua thought, but then a fierce headache ripped through his head at the thought of just Gon's name. He clutched his head, gripping blindly for the talisman that he'd left on the counter. He breathed a sigh of relief when the still cool talisman reached his forehead. _But why,_ Killua thought. _Why does this happen every time I even think of Gon? It's getting worse… But it isn't important compared to my priority to reunite with Alluka_ , Killua resolved, fists clenched.

It was at this moment that Killua detected faint music being played outside. He turned off the shower head and cleared the room of his steam, shower effectively ruined by the headache, and peered outside. Hikaru had decided to take advantage of his grand piano addition, and she was playing—Killua tilted his head in recognition—the Fantasie Impromptu by Chopin. _Not an easy piece to play_ , Killua thought, observing her movements. Hikaru's eyes were closed, her softly waving red curls cascading down her back and her fingers lithe across the ivory keys. Her mouth was just slightly open, mouthing something silently outside of Killua's reach, and her back was arched forward as if expecting something to happen. The scales were mesmerizing. _She_ was mesmerizing. Killua felt himself begin to lose track of time again like that time he first met Hikaru at the club, where everything was blurry but he couldn't stop looking at this woman. Through the blur, Hikaru's frame started to flicker, almost as if Killua could see through the Nen that was disguising her. He reached forward, watching her hair toggle between red wavy, straight black, curly brown, a blinding white blonde…

And then the music stopped. Hikaru opened her eyes and faced Killua. She looked very serious, but only for a minute before perking back up into her usual self.

"I don't usually offer entertainment for free, so you better be thankful!"

She stuck her tongue out at him, and immediately that peaceful, serene Hikaru he'd just witnessed winked out of sight.

"You can play the piano," he stated the obvious.

"Well, you have to have these tricks up your sleeves, ready to use to take advantage of pretty young men like yourself," she teased.

Killua stood right above the seated Hikaru, lost in thought wondering if this was the power of her rising influence over him from the pact they had made.

"Who are you?" Killua asked, mostly to himself before he realized he asked the question out loud.

Hikaru laughed nervously. "You know who I am? What a silly question to ask."

"No, I don't."

Killua remained serious. "This isn't your real face or full personality. You're still hiding things. Something important."

She stared back at him now, not quite resigned but somewhat sad.

"I'll see myself out now. Sleep well, Killua."

* * *

 _~~And meanwhile with Gon and Hisoka~~_

Gon's moody attitude evaporated right when he walked into his new room. Killua had decked it out to mimic his home back at Whale Island, down to the quiet sound of an ocean echoing in the distance. He threw himself down onto the sofa, breathing in the smell of home deeply.

"Is this supposed to be your home?" Hisoka asked, trailing his fingers on the table, the chair, everything he could touch.

"Mm!" Gon said enthusiastically, forgetting any discomfort that came from being in closed rooms with Hisoka because he was so happy to be at his home. He grabbed his favorite blue blanket and rolled into it like a piece of sushi and stared out the window at the simulation of soft-moving tall blades of grass and old trees. Why exactly had he been so sad when Killua left with Hikaru? Yes, a great deal of it was because he didn't trust Hikaru. She had some sort of end game, something big that she was hiding from them, and of course Killua would soon be completely under her control. There was no way to tell from her description exactly how fast moving her pact was over Killua and how much she would be able to control him. Like what about his feelings for her? Gon mused, curling his toes into the sushi roll blanket. What if she forced Killua to have feelings for her? To make him do certain things with her? He clenched his fists. That wouldn't be fair at all! Wouldn't that be considered harming him? Would she consider that harm? Well, he definitely wouldn't have a say in whether or not he wanted it, so that wouldn't be okay. And she said that there wouldn't be any long-term effects after the contract period, so anything that happened then would go away anyway, right? Right?

He slumped into the sofa, face pressed against the seat and shouted exasperatedly. His brain hurt from too much thinking. Yes, he was worried about Killua. But there was something else other than worry, maybe…could it be…jealousy? What? Gon laughed to himself. Why jealousy? Well, the other part of him reasoned. Back when you and Killua were together, you would hang out 24/7. You'd live together, eat together, sleep together, train together. You felt this sort of jealousy when Killua went off with Alluka and you couldn't say anything to keep him with you, right? He relaxed a little bit before catching himself. But this is a different sort of jealousy. You're jealous because he's _your_ friend. Mine, Gon thought to himself fiercely. Mine? He questioned.

"Argh!" Gon yelled, flinging a pillow at the glass. It bounced off and fell gently onto the rug. He yanked at his hair before spinning out of the sushi roll. Enough is enough. My head can't take anymore for now. He paused, looking around. Where did Hisoka go? Gon sniffed the air, trailing Hisoka's unmistakable, simultaneously sweet and musky scent to his bedroom. He pushed the door open and saw Hisoka…completely in the nude.

"ARRGHHH!" Gon yelled, covering his eyes. "Not again!"

Hisoka was facing away, observing the simulations in Gon's window. He simpered, turning to Gon.

"Ah, Gon-kun," Hisoka said unfazed. "I was just appreciating the view and about to take a shower. Would you care to join?"

"N-no!" Gon spluttered. "Get out of my room, Hisoka!"

Hisoka laughed, "Where else would you have me shower? This is the only one Killua figured into the apartment!"

Gon cursed and slammed the door. He ran to the kitchen and began furiously piling together the necessary ingredients to make a mean spaghetti. As he chopped up the fresh tomatoes, Gon couldn't help but reflect on Hisoka's body. Despite ten years, he was still in top condition, and there were certain things that Gon noticed in a more significant way than he would have noticed as a young boy…. He wasn't necessarily envious, but maybe was…appreciative? He shook his head vigorously while the water boiled. _No thank you no thank you no thank you._ Gon had spent the last ten years regaining his Nen and then caring for Mito-san, so he wasn't at all experienced in the dating sphere. But over time he had come to understand his body—likes and dislikes—enough to be able to appreciate another good body. _But that's all it is_ , Gon said to himself sternly. _Appreciation, not attraction._

At that moment, the door opened and Hisoka came from the shower, without makeup, wet, gel-less hair sticking to his neck and shoulders with little trails of water rolling down his chest leading to somewhere beneath towel that hung loosely on his hips.

"There are no clothes here that fit me," Hisoka said matter-of-fact.

Realizing that he was openly gawking at Hisoka's body, Gon lowered his eyes back to his process of forming meatballs. "Maybe go to your own room, then!"

Suddenly, Hisoka was breathing right over his shoulder. "But it seems you're making enough food for two."

Gon jumped. "That's because I thought I would bring some over to Killua and see how he was doing!"

Hisoka paused with a dark, speculative look. "No need to be so defensive, then."

He trailed his fingers lightly across Gon's shoulder, and Gon couldn't help the shudder that he elicited. Hisoka chuckled. "I'll see myself out."

Gon watched Hisoka leave with a weird, unfinished feeling in his mouth before turning back to the spaghetti.

* * *

 _~Finally now Killua and Gon~_

Gon knocked on Killua's door, a big bowl of spaghetti in hand. A few seconds later, Killua stood in the middle of the doorway, clearly half-asleep with his hair windswept and loftily hanging in several different directions. Killua observed Gon and the steaming bowl of spaghetti with a grunt of acknowledgment before taking the bowl and walking back inside. Gon followed him cautiously inside, looking for some indication that Hikaru was still in the room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized she had left and then joined Killua at the dinner table in silence.

"Congratulations on your win against Hisoka," Gon offered to break the silence.

Killua grunted again, shoving the spaghetti in his mouth.

"Wasn't a true victory because he was so distracted," Killua said in between shovels of spaghetti. "I'll call it a win when we battle again."

They were silent save for Killua's voracious chewing until Killua said suddenly out of nowhere, "Is this the first time you've seen him these past ten years?"

"Eh?" Gon said, a little surprised. "Hisoka? Yeah I guess so. I've been training to be stronger I guess in part so I could re-challenge him, but I haven't gotten to a point where I'm consistently satisfied with my work like you."

"What sort of things have you trained on these past ten years?" Killua asked, inviting Gon to breach the subject of the last ten years.

"Mm, not as much as I would have liked," Gon said thoughtfully. "After I met Ging at the World Tree, it still took me a few years to regain my Nen, so he gave me a map of all the archaeological sites that were his favorites so I could visit. I think he wanted to keep me in places that he knew with people he knew just to keep me safe."

"How _did_ you end up regaining your Nen?" asked curiously.

Gon paused for just long enough to make Killua wonder if he had asked a wrong question.

"I was visiting Whale Island after having gone to a bunch of archaeological sites when it happened. There was a huge lightning storm and Mito-san's cat was lost somewhere outside. We were all looking for it when a huge bolt of lightning struck me and knocked me unconscious. Of course, I was fine afterward and actually regained my Nen from it, but Mito-san was horribly injured because she was standing next to me. She had to go through a lot of physical therapy so I stayed on the island with her and started minimal training for the next years to come and before I knew it nine years had past. So for those years I mostly trained alone on Whale Island building up my Nen again and stamina. I'd say I've improved consistent-wise a little since we last met. You're far more experienced than me at this point."

"I'm sorry to hear about Mito-san. I really like her. Is she doing better now?"

" Yeah, she's completely recovered now. But it was a shock to me, a reminder of how fragile life really is. It was like Kaito all over again."

"I wish I had been there for you…" Killua said, mostly to himself.

"It's ok!" Gon said, brightening up. "You were taking care of your sister just like how I was taking care of Mito-san. I wish I could have been there for you that last year that you were all alone tracking Illumi so maybe things could have ended differently, too, but what's done is done and all we can do is move forward."

Killua smiled, but somehow he still felt sad. _Is there no way we can go back to how things used to be?_ He thought to himself. He finished his spaghetti, so now they sat at the table in complete silence.

Gon reached up to touch Killua's talisman. "I've noticed that you've been a lot better since you started wearing this talisman."

Killua smiled. "Alluka gave it to me before I left the island to hunt down Illumi. I think somehow it's helped me fight his death wish curse a bit."

"How?"

" I would get these headaches really bad headaches whenever around you probably as a way to deter me from finding a way to get back to Alluka, and of course overall I was just down in the dumps after spending so much time protecting Alluka only to have her taken away from me all over again."

Gon frowned. Something was off with Killua's explanation, but he'd think about it later to himself. He smiled at Killua. "We'll definitely get her back, Killua."

Killua automatically smiled back. "Do you want to train? I added a cool tactical training simulator room in the back."

Gon jumped up excitedly. "Yeah!"

The two continued to smile at each other, happy to be in each other's presence once more, and raced to the training room, together.

* * *

 **Killua and Gon are inching toward each other slowly but surely. But will Hikaru and Hisoka put a damper on that progress? ~stay tuned, and please let me know if you like this fic/what I can do to improve in the reviews/message sections! As I've mentioned, it's my first fic, so I'm not sure if I'm doing well or not honestly haha.~**


	7. Chapter 7

**And the ball gets rolling! It took me a while to update this story because I got a bug to write a fic about 好きっていいなよ/Say "I love you" after having finished reading the manga. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but I think I have enough content left for another two or three chapters, so please check it out and review/etc if you like it! Thanks!**

* * *

"We could ask Kurapika to ask his connections if they've heard of Abengane?" Gon offered to the group sitting at the table.

The group had taken the morning and afternoon off to relax after the flurry of events that had taken place the previous day.

"I don't want to involve more people than necessary in this plan," Killua said. "The more people that know, the more likely that my family will find out my whereabouts."

Gon deflated at the quick shut-down.

"I have an idea," Hikaru started, earning a subtle glare from Gon. "There's a club close to the one I work at in the underground black market district of Yorknew where shady Hunters can get information on other Hunters like their whereabouts and abilities."

"It's as good an idea that anyone could think of here, honestly," Killua conceded, stretching backward in his chair.

Gon frowned. "And you'd be able to get in?"

Hikaru laughed. "Yes, my club alias happens to be very popular in the underground district as a whole, so I won't have any problems getting into this particular club. The only problem is that it's a girls only club, if you get my drift…"

Gon blushed at her implication.

"But you could take me, right?" Killua said, thinking out loud. "I can disguise myself as a girl."

"You read my mind," she said, smiling at him.

Gon bit his lip, restraining himself from falling for Hikaru's obvious attempt to irritate him.

"Well, if you've got everything solved, then the rest of us might as well just do our own thing until you get back."

He waved them off, disappearing from the conference room without another word.

Hikaru broke the silence. "Well then," she said, clapping her hands together. "Let's start work on your female disguise."

* * *

Thirty minutes of shrieks but mostly laughs later, Killua's female disguise had been perfected. Hikaru insisted on keeping the color of his white silver hair, but they lengthened it so that the ends tickled the small of his back. Despite its length, the hair still managed to spike in a sexy, tussled sort of way. Dark, ocean blue eyes once again replaced his white blue eyes, and his skin was also a shade darker, but his body was very evidently different. Hisoka was adamant to add significant curves to the body—"It'll help keep the bouncers from asking any questions," he explained. Killua's only say in the disguise was the clothing. He wore a skintight, black long-sleeved shirt that kept his now sultry collarbone hidden and a pair of tight-fitting black jeans. Most of the laughs came from the fact that Hikaru insisted Killua wear intimidatingly tall black heels—"They won't let you in otherwise, I promise."—and Killua had to get used to them.

"It's like the body is used to wearing these heels but my brain can't compute," he complained, wobbling into Hisoka for the umpteenth time.

Hisoka gripped Killua's waist a little too closely for his liking and Killua yelped loudly, causing Gon to crash back into the room in concern.

"Killua! Are you okay?! What happ—"

Gon cut off once he saw Killua in his disguise.

"Oh wait," Hikaru said over Gon's thoughts. "Let's change the voice now, too."

"What?" Killua said. "Hey! My voice should not be this high! Drop it down furth—Hey no not this low! It makes me sound like I smoke a pack of cigarettes each day."

Killua's face was bright red while Hikaru rolled on the floor yowling, Wing-san with a hand pinching the bridge of his nose, and Hisoka leering creepily as usual. Gon couldn't stop staring at Killua. It was like he'd never really _seen_ Killua until he saw him (or her!) as he was then. It wasn't the physical appearance that had caught Gon's attention, but rather how embarrassed Killua seemed to be by his change of appearance. Gon had never seen Killua so flustered before, and it was just so…cute?

Hikaru pulled Killua's waist toward her aggressively, causing Killua to wobble again. "Now Killua, it's likely we'll have to put on a nice little show for our guests once we get in there before they give us any information?"

"A show?" Killua said weakly.

"Mhmm," Hikaru assented, handing him a purse. "But you just follow my lead."

She dragged a still-nervous Killua out the door, waving behind her. "Now say bye bye to the boys, _Sakura_."

"Really? Sakura?" Killua complained. "Could you pick a more generic name?"

The door shut heavily behind them. Gon rubbed his face, trying to convince himself that he'd actually seen what he had before grabbing a towel to hit the training simulator room in Killua's room.

* * *

In a situation of fight or flight, Killua learned to walk in heels just enough to pass as credible, considering his good looks. The pair earned the double-takes of many men as they sashayed to the White Waters Club.

"The password is, 'Look at my face,'" Hikaru said confidently to the dark door, shrugging at Killua's scornful look.

The swatch in the door opened just enough for the man inside to recognize Hikaru, and the door immediately opened after. Hikaru smiled smugly and pulled Killua's dumbfounded self inside. The man quickly ushered them through the crowded first floor into the back room of the second floor.

"Can I offer you anything to drink, Hayami-sensei?" the man said, still bowing.

"No thank you," she said, waving him off politely.

"Takemura-sama will be here shortly, then," he said, bowing out of the room.

A few seconds later, a large man ducked under the door. Hikaru rose, so Killua followed suit.

"Takemura-sama," Hikaru simpered.

The man pressed her into a hug with underlying meaning. "Hello sweetheart. What brings you to my corner of town?"

"Well that's just it," Hikaru said experimentally. "This time, I'm actually here for the services you provide."

"But you'll stick around for those other services, right?" the man followed up.

She smiled satisfyingly, "Of course."

The man leaned back into his chair. "Well then, how can I help you?"

"We're looking for a Nen exorcist named Abengane."

"We?" the man said, now appraising Killua's appearance.

"Ah yes, how rude of me. This is my friend, Sakura-chan," Hikaru pulled Killua closer to her, placing a hand over his own. "She's a very good friend," Hikaru said meaningfully.

"How about you show me how meaningful, while my men here find out the details on this Abengane?" the man said, leaning forward and brushing his men out the room.

Hikaru smiled at the man, not giving away any sort of trepidation before leaning into Killua and kissing him solidly on the mouth. Killua couldn't move—he was so in shock at Hikaru's brazenness. She poked her tongue forcefully into his mouth, and Killua just sat there, a hand half-lifted to stop or have her continue, he didn't know, before finally she pulled back, looking straight at the man.

"Will that do?" she said coyly.

"Mmm," the man assented.

One of Takemura's associates then knocked on the door and entered with a file. Takemura browsed through the file leisurely before tossing it at Hikaru.

"I hope you'll enjoy your stay at White Waters, ladies," Takemura said, standing up and shaking hands with Hikaru and a feeble Killua.

Hikaru smiled and waved her hand enthusiastically as she ushered the still shocked Killua out of the room back onto the second floor balcony looking over the loud music and dancing crowds. They began dancing in the middle of a few other women who were locked in embrace.

"Can we leave now?" Killua shouted over the music. "I'm really uncomfortable here."

Hikaru pulled him forward, "We have to stay for at least a little bit, or otherwise we'll raise suspicions." She pulled a glass off the serving platter of the nearest woman, and just then they heard the announcer shout, "Ladies we have a treat tonight. Look up to the second floor and you'll see none other than Hayami-sensei herself!" A spotlight then suddenly cast down on the pair and they were met with the screaming faces of all the women on the first floor looking upward.

"See?" Hikaru said in Killua's ear, causing him to shiver. "Now drink up."

And that was the last thing that Killua remembered from the night.

* * *

Hikaru, being Hikaru, had picked the most potent drink in the club for Killua to drink. Although he was infallible to poison, he was not, however, infallible to the slow working charm of Hikaru's Nen. She'd forgotten to mention to Killua that her influence over him would be at its best the longer he was in one of her disguises, and he'd already been in that disguise for the past hour and a half when she started pushing her hypnotic Nen on him to relax and open up. For the next few hours, they stayed on that second floor, drinking and laughing and dancing, but every time Hikaru tried to lean forward to plant another kiss on Killua, he'd somehow manage to look away, lean backward, talk to another woman, to avoid it. Hikaru grew increasingly frustrated, but the more she bumped up her Nen influence on Killua, the greater it seemed was his ability to outmaneuver her advances. Finally, around two in the morning, Hikaru gave up, dragging the stumbling man by the arm out the club and back to their floor at Heavens Arena.

"And then I was like, Gon, do you know how to cook anything else other than pancakes?" Killua gushed, slapping his knee and hanging over Hikaru's small frame. Luckily, Killua in his female disguise was not nearly as heavy as he would have been otherwise Hikaru definitely would not have been able to support him. She sighed, rolling her eyes while she held the swaying man up straight in the elevator. Killua suddenly became still—he'd fallen asleep standing up in the elevator. Hikaru sighed, dropping Killua's disguise and smiling softly at his serene expression. She brushed a spiky piece of hair from his face when she realized it—she was developing feelings for Killua. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces fit together, and she sighed again, cursing herself for putting that contract on herself. To have such powerful Nen, Hikaru had placed a contract on herself that she wouldn't fall in love with anyone or else lose the extent of the power of her Nen. It seemed that contract was finally coming into effect, she thought to herself, bowing her head. The elevator door chimed open, and she heaved Killua's now extremely body through the door and up to the living room. He woke at the sudden moment, yelling, "Hey! Where are we?"

"Killua?" Gon's voice echoed down the hallway. He peeked his head outside of the training simulator room.

With the slowest reaction Hikaru had ever seen, Killua recognized Gon's voice and pushed off of her, stumbling toward the direction of his voice.

"Gooooooonnnnn," Killua yelled, crashing into Gon's unsuspecting arms.

He nuzzled his head against Gon's sweaty chest. "Why's you so schweaty?" he said, unable to form his words correctly.

Gon looked up sharply at Hikaru accusingly. "What did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything much!" Hikaru said defensively, waving her arms. "I just gave him a little to drink to have fun!"

Gon narrowed his eyes at her. "Whatever, I'll take care of him, now."

She swayed at the elevator entrance, unsure if she should leave him with Gon.

"You can leave now," Gon said, reiterating his intentions.

Hikaru shrugged and got back into the elevator.

Gon looked down at Killua, who was currently drooling on his shirt. He scooped Killua up into his arms, much to the immediate protest of Killua, but as they were walking Killua relaxed into Gon's hold and wrapped his arms around Gon's neck, once again nuzzling his face into the crook of Gon's neck.

"Mmm, smells like Gon," Killua whispered into Gon's ear, making the hairs on his body rise. Killua gripped Gon's shirt in his fist, bunching the fabric into a ball close to his heart and wedged his other hand in between their bodies feeling the heat and hardness of Gon's chest…At which point Gon stepped into the shower with Killua and blasted Killua in the face with cold water.

"W-what?!" Killua sputtered, ripping Gon's shirt in the process. "Why am I wet? Why is it so cold?!"

Gon burst out laughing, mostly in attempt to calm himself from what Killua had almost done, what had almost happened between them. He stood Killua up in the shower and ruffled his spiky hair. "Let's clean you up."

* * *

Killua opened his eyes to relative darkness. He stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, recognizing that it was his bedroom, but wondered exactly how he'd managed to get there, considering the last thing he remembered was Hikaru handing him that suspicious looking drink. He pushed himself up in the bed only to have the room start spinning in front of him. He groaned, pinching his nose and covering his eyes. The last time he felt like this was when he was doing poison training with Illumi. Keeping his eyes closed, Killua channeled steam from his Nen to massage his head and work out the tensions in his back. He stretched. It wasn't perfect, but he'd be able to move. Killua pushed himself out of the bed and walked in the direction of the smell of food, which happened to be the conference room. He walked into the room with bright lights and groaned, just realizing then that he'd forgotten to put a shirt on and quite literally looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

Hisoka smirked at Killua's dazed expression. "Morning, sunshine. Or should I say, afternoon?"

Killua inhaled deeply, still squinting at the light. "Food," he grunted.

Wing-san laughed at gestured at the plates of food sitting next to Gon, who only glanced up at Killua before looking away, turning a twinge of red, which didn't go unnoticed by Hikaru or Killua. Killua hesitated, wondering exactly what had transpired the night before, but food had to happen first.

As he was munching on some bacon, Hikaru gave her report of the files that Takemura had given them the night before.

"Abengane was last spotted in the NGL territory working on mastering the Nen bugs that he creates to perform Nen exorcisms, so I guess that's where we'll be going next."

She glanced over at Killua uneasily, something that didn't go unnoticed by Gon, either.

Killua being Killua chose to ignore all of these red flag cues and just nodded in assent, "We'll pack up right after I finish this bacon."

Hisoka rolled his eyes, stacking a set of cards carefully on top of each other. Things were bound to get even more interesting, it would seem.

* * *

 **That's all for now! As always, please show your support to motivate me to continue (otherwise I might just continue the story in my head, haha).**


End file.
